


A Little Slice of Pi by babs

by babs



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-19
Updated: 2010-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-10 16:12:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babs/pseuds/babs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just what happened when Zelenka said goodbye to Rodney in The Shrine?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Slice of Pi by babs

Doctor?"

Jeannie just nodded as Doctor Keller shot her an apologetic glance and left the back of the jumper. Beside her, Mer shifted restlessly.

"It's okay, Mer," she told him and rubbed her hand up and down the tense muscles of his forearm. He shook his head but she doubted it was because he understood what she was telling him. He was twisting his fingers again, and she covered the agitation with her own hand. "It's going to be okay."

He looked at her with little sign of recognition, his mouth working until he finally said in his now slow, half-garbled speech. "Scare."

"Mer," Jeannie said softly and reached up to wipe away a bit of saliva with her thumb. "I'm with you. And John. John and Ronon and Teyla are going to help you get better." She ignored the way her voice caught on the last word and bit her lip to try to keep the tears that she could feel welling up from falling.

"Ronon...Dex." Mer said.

Jeannie smiled and touched his cheek. "Yes. Yes." She nodded. "Ronon Dex."

But her brother's attention was gone. He was looking back at his hands again and began muttering something under his breath--garbled numbers that held no meaning for her. Her stomach was tied in a perpetual knot--she hated lies, always had, always would. It felt like a lie--this promise she'd made to Mer that things would be better. Although maybe they would be. Mer would be at peace finally. This wasn't the way he'd want to live, she was sure of it. Damn it, it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that someone so brilliant--oh who was she kidding? It wasn't fair for anyone. It wasn't the loss of Mer's intellect she mourned, it was the loss of Mer, her big brother, the man she'd reconciled with and loved fiercely that hurt. It seemed she had just found him again, regained the brother-sister relationship, and now it was being taken away from her, from him. There were too many lost years they needed to catch up, too many words they hadn't said.

"Excuse. I'm sorry."

Jeannie was pulled out of her downward spiralling thoughts by the accented voice.

"Doctor..." she hesitated a moment. "Zelenka."

"Yes, yes. Mrs. Miller," he said and ducked his head. He held a tool kit although what he was going to do with it, she had no idea. "I...I will check jumper, yes."

Jeannie watched him step through to the front of the jumper, heard him muttering although it was in a language she didn't speak. Czech, she remembered Mer telling her in one of his emails.

Mer leaned in a bit closer to her, his body trembling.

"We're just going on a little trip," she said in the same tone she used with Madison when she needed a booster shot. "I'm here."

Mer touched her hand and she enfolded his fingers in hers, a small anchor for him to hold in what must be a very frightening sea.

"Done." Doctor Zelenka said as he came back to stand in front of them. "Doctor M...Rodney would want me to make sure..." He stopped and cleared his throat.

Jeannie averted her eyes when she saw the sheen of tears in his eyes. Beside her, Mer was making a sound. She looked at him, saw his gaze fixed on Doctor Zelenka. His first name slipped her mind--if she'd ever known it that was.

"Yes. Radek. That is right, Rodney," the doctor said. He squatted down in front of Mer, put a hand on his knee and smiled. Jeannie curled her hand into a fist, her fingernails biting into her palm and blinked hard. The sadness in Doctor Zelenka's eyes was plain to see, sadness and love for her brother.

"I want to tell you." Doctor Zelenka looked away for just a moment, fighting for control. Jeannie could see the bobbing of his Adam's apple and the tightening of his jaw. He looked back then at Mer, and the tears she'd seen in his eyes a few moments before had started to spill over. He made no effort to wipe them away. He took a deep breath and then took one of Mer's hands in his. "I want to tell you. It has been an honor, Rodney. You are a fine man for all the hot air you exhale. I have been honored beyond measure. You have been, you are a good friend." He leaned forward and kissed Mer on the forehead. "Go in peace." He said something else even though Jeannie had no idea what it was.

Mer kept his head down and then began mumbling numbers again. She looked at Doctor Zelenka who had tilted his head to one side. A small smile graced his lips and he took Mer's hand again, folded down his pinky, ring finger, and thumb. "Pi is three point one four. Three point one four. I will remember for you."

"Three." Mer repeated."point one four."

"Yes." Jeannie said. "Yes, Mer." She could feel the sting of tears in her eyes, in her nose. She looked at Doctor Zelenka who watched her brother a moment more and then nodded his head and stood.

"Thank you," Jeannie said to him. Mer had another family now, she realized. A family she could never be a part of, and that was okay. Mer was cared for and loved not by her alone but by his team, by Radek Zelenka. She was glad. Even through all the pain and hurt of this horrible disease, she was glad.

"Every word was truth," Doctor Zelenka said. "I mean the words I say." And before she could say anything else, he was through the jumper doors and down the ramp.

Jeannie took a breath to bring her emotions back under control for Mer's sake. He looked at her, a slight frown on his face. She smiled at him, placed her hand back on his knee to give him reassurance, herself a lasting connection and listened to his whispered numbers.

"Three point one four," Mer said again and again.

She wasn't ready to let Mer go. She didn't think anyone else was either.

"I love you," she whispered to him over pi. "I love you." She didn't know if he understood any longer. She hoped he did. There was too much left unsaid between them and when all of this was over, Jeannie vowed she'd make sure he understood every unspoken word of the past.

  



End file.
